(Lead) Mountain Musings - "Wargames Foundry" November 2023

"Napoleon defeated the allied Russo-Austrian army at Austerlitz, effectively ending the Third Coalition."

Having had an enjoyably successful Zomtober Challenge last month, predominantly focusing upon the Undead servants of the Dark Lord Sauron from J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings", I thought I'd turn to something historically based for the next few weeks and finally get my burgeoning collection of 28mm Napoleonic figures by "Wargames Foundry" into a state where I can at least play a small game of "Xenos Rampant" by "Osprey Games". My initial aim has always been to get enough soldiers painted up to where each miniature can represent a single unit, and resultantly field two twenty-four point forces against one another.

I've actually already achieved this with an unlikely Third Coalition army consisting of two British Riflemen models (acting as Commander and a second Elite Infantry unit), plus four Russian Infantrymen (representing Light Infantry with Assault Doctrine - bayonets). However, I haven't managed to keep apace with my plans for the opposing French forces, as up until now, I only had four French Fusiliers In Greatcoat Marching completed (amounting to four units of Light Infantry with Assault Doctrine - bayonets).

"By the mid-18th century, the French Army used the term fusiliers to designate ordinary line infantry."

Happily however, I have now finished a fifth soldier, with the Perry Twins' sculpt being predominantly pigmented using a combination of "Two Thin Coats" White Star, "Vallejo" Heavy Brown, Heavy Sienna, Sombre Grey, "Citadel" Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade. This has left me needing to crack on with just three more figures from the blister FN101 and I'll be able to then try out a low model count game of "Xenos Rampant" on a 3x3 foot table - possibly even using the ruleset's National Traits. 

In addition, I'd also like to make some major in-roads in this long-term project's second phase, where I essentially try to double the miniatures in each unit. For the Third Coalition force this will simply mean applying a brush to the remaining four Russians in the Newark-based manufacturer's RN023 - Infantry in Oilskin Covered 1812 Shako Marching pack, and another figure from their B081 - Riflemen Advancing blister. I will though, be taking this opportunity to paint the officer from my recently-acquired B080 - British Riflemen bag, so as to make the army's Commander properly stand out.

October 2023 - "Pendraken Miniatures" is reaching for the Top Spot over "Papsikel's Miniatures"

With the third best October under my belt in ten years of hobbying, I'm really hoping to build upon this productivity over the next thirty days. Admittedly, much of this success was due to my predominantly black-coloured Castellans and Nazgul from the "Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game" by "Games Workshop". However, I also managed to pigment many an armoured vehicle from the 10mm World War Two range of "Pendraken Miniatures" - and my enthusiasm for this small scale has not diminished.

Furthermore, I plan to push through a good dozen or so of my aforementioned "Wargames Foundry" backlog, which should then allow me to play a couple of games using them - something which always seems to spur me on to greater heights. I've also recently received many a good STL from the various 3D Printing Companies I support on Patreon, such as "Big Mr Tong", "Papsikels Miniatures" and the Poland-based "Puppets War", so I wouldn't be at all surprised to see some of these resin models jump the painting queue too...